Speaking to NME in his first interview since leaving the band, Farro said he felt that he didn’t want to speak out until he had something positive to say and that he had gotten over the negative feelings he had about his departure from the pop-punk band.

Asked why he’d not spoken publicly for so long, Farro replied: “I didn’t feel like I had much to say. There was no worth in giving lots of interviews. I wanted to have something to say and I didn’t feel like I had that unless I had new music. I didn’t want to leave the band and just go into full on interviews. I need to erase some of the bad and exhausting lifestyle.”

He then explained that a big factor in his departure from the band was homesickness and the feelings that he was missing out on some much at his home in Tennessee.

He explained: “Once, when Josh and I got back off tour, we came home and our parents had gotten a divorce. So we came back and everything was different and I just started feeling like I’d missed out on so much stuff and important events. I loved touring and I loved playing in Europe, but I didn’t love being away.”

The drummer added that he felt the band’s success and their world touring had “cost him his childhood” and he hoped that by leaving he would be able to get that time back.

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He said of this: “I had a lot of negative feelings towards music, it was the thing that took me away from my family and my home and I felt like it cost me my childhood. Now I see it as a blessing and I don’t regret it, but I needed a year to see it like that.”

He went on: “When I left the band, I just thought I’d be getting all that time back. I knew I was right to leave, I knew I needed to go. I felt like I had a little bit of depression and I was just not doing well. I’ve not wanted to do music, but I just didn’t want to be away all the time. I’m so excited to be coming back now and I feel like I’ve grown into myself so much. I didn’t want to do music until I’d gotten rid all of the negativity.”

Zac Farro releases his debut EP as HalfNoise on Monday (October 1). You can hear the third track from the EP, which is titled ‘Hide Your Eyes’, at the bottom of the page. For more information about the EP, visit Xtramilerecordings.com.